


Together we make a family

by seektheinfinite



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Family, Family Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Insecure Robert, Light Angst, M/M, Roblivion, clueless robert
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-11
Updated: 2016-12-11
Packaged: 2018-09-07 23:42:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,111
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8820970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seektheinfinite/pseuds/seektheinfinite
Summary: “It will make a huge difference. It’s not just a piece of paper Liv, it’s taking on the responsibility of looking after another human being. I mean, if anything happened to me Robert would be the one that would have to make all the decisions about your future, that’s a big deal.”

 
Liv wants them to be a family so she asks Robert to be her guardian too. Things don't quite go as she had hoped.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [thisissirius](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thisissirius/gifts).



> Thanks to thisissirius for cheerleading, betaing and generally helping to make this fic better.

Aaron found himself distracted from the article he’d been reading in the paper about a local man who had apparently grown the world’s largest marrow by the sound of a body hitting the outside of the portacabin door.

He chuckled to himself at the thought of Adam standing on the other side, trying to force his way in. They’d been over this before, the door really needed replacing but with everything else going on it had been less than a priority.

He considered sitting and waiting to see how long it would take him to realise that the door was in fact no longer locked and that it was just stuck when he heard his name being called in a very un-Adam like voice.

“Liv?” Aaron dropped the open newspaper onto the desk before making a grab for the cabin door. He gave it a yank at the same time as Liv decided to give it another shove from the other side which resulted in her making a rather undignified entrance. If it hadn’t been for Aaron’s quick thinking she would have landed face first onto the cabin floor. Instead she just got a face full of Aaron, and was quick to right herself as though nothing had happened.

Aaron was just about to ask her if she was okay, when he noticed that she had managed to get grease smeared across her nose which resulted in him bursting with laughter instead.

Liv stomped across the cabin and plonked herself into Aaron’s vacant chair, before folding her arms across her chest and giving a little huff. “Oh yeah, very funny. You know you could have warned me.”

“Oh don’t sulk. Besides, I’m not laughing about your little trip. You’ve got grease on your nose.”

“Gross!” Pulling her sleeve over her hand she scrubbed vigorously at the offending stain. “I hate coming up here, I always end up getting covered in something.”

Aaron rolled his eyes, leaning casually back against the wall of the cabin. “Why are you here then?”

Liv shrugged before leaning across the desk to grab hold of the stapler sitting on top of it. Fiddling with the stapler rather than looking at Aaron she muttered. “Needed to talk to you without anyone else around, that’s all.” She pulled a stack of papers towards her, not bothering to look at what they were before slapping her hand down onto the stapler.

“Hey, Robert is going to kill me if you mess with his paperwork.” Aaron snatched the papers away from the stapler, placing them as far down the other end of the desk as he could.

“What have you done?” He asked in his best ‘dad’ voice, before sitting on the edge of the desk beside her.

Liv sighed before reaching for a pot of paperclips. Pulling a couple out she started linking them together. She hadn’t imagined that talking to Aaron about this would be so hard, but now that she was here she couldn’t help but think that this was a bad idea. “Doesn’t matter. I’ll just see you at home.” Dropping the paper clips onto the desk she made to stand.

Aaron placed a gentle but firm hand on her shoulder, pushing her back into the seat. “You’re not going anywhere. Whatever it is, it’s obviously bothering you, so talk.”

Liv went back to fiddling with the paperclips that she had previously discarded. “Look, it’s not bad okay. It’s just a big deal and I don’t know if you’re going to be okay with it, and he might not want too anyway so it might not even matter. I just wanted to ask anyway because I’ve been thinking about it for a long time and…”

Aaron reached forward, stilling Liv’s hands in the middle of adding another paperclip to her ever growing chain. “Okay, just breathe yeah? You’re talking so fast I have no idea what you’re saying. Just slow down and tell me what’s wrong.”

“Robert.”

Aaron leant back slightly, pinching the bridge of his nose as he schooled himself. He couldn’t keep the annoyance out of his voice as he answered. “Look, if you and Robert have had another barney I really don’t want to know about it. You can sort it out between yourselves.”

Liv scowled, before throwing her half completed paperclip chain down onto the desk. Her cheeks flushed red as she shouted, “Why does it always have to be a bad thing? You’re always going off on one at me for no reason. Urgh, you’re so annoying sometimes.” With that Liv was once again making her way towards the door to the cabin, stomping her feet as she went.

“Hey, stop.” Aaron lurched forward to make a grab for her arm, stopping her in her tracks. “Whoever said living with a teenager was going to be hell had it completely right. Talk about mood swings.” He gave her one of his impish grins in an attempt to lighten the mood. He’d never been good at dealing with his own feelings, let alone the rollercoaster of emotions that came part and parcel of living with a teenage girl. “Just stop okay. I’m sorry, I’ll shut up and I promise I won’t make any more judgements or bad jokes. Just, please Liv, tell me what it is.”

Liv huffed loudly before pulling her arm from Aaron’s grip. “Fine. Just promise me you won’t freak out.”

Placing both his hands on Liv’s upper arms, Aaron leant down to catch her gaze, which was currently directed at the floor. Liv, obviously sensing what he was attempting to do, glanced up at him. “I promise. Whatever it is, we’ll work through it together; good or bad. I don’t care. I just want you to be happy.”

“Fine, okay. Well the thing is, I’ve been thinking about this for a while and now that we’re going to move out and get a house of our own we’re going to be like a real family. Except we’re not, are we, because Robert’s not related to me, at all. Except for the fact that he’s your fiancé, so I kind of want to ask Robert to be my guardian too.”

Aaron’s grip on Liv’s arms loosened as the shock of what she had just said settled into the pit of his stomach. She wanted them to be a proper family; the three of them. He knew that she had been longing for a place that they could call their own for a while now, living in the pub was getting on all their nerves. But in all honesty, Aaron had to admit that he hadn’t really thought about the actual implications of that move. It was going to be just the three of them. Sure, on paper he was her guardian but his mum, Robert, even Charity to some extent had taken on some of the responsibilities of raising her and he was sure up until this point that she resented them for it. She’d often thrown out the line ‘you’re not my mum’ at Chas when asked to pick up her dirty laundry from the bathroom floor.

“Where’s this come from? I mean I know you and Robert don’t hate each other anymore but I hardly thought you were the best of friends?” Aaron pulled himself from his thoughts in an attempt to figure out if he had actually entered the twilight zone or just another universe where Liv and Robert weren’t constantly pecking each other’s heads.

Liv shrugged her shoulder’s. “We’re not, I mean he’s still an idiot some times, but then so are you. He’s alright really. Besides he acts like he’s my dad anyway, so what difference will it make.”

“It will make a huge difference. It’s not just a piece of paper Liv, it’s taking on the responsibility of looking after another human being. I mean, if anything happened to me Robert would be the one that would have to make all the decisions about your future, that’s a big deal.” Aaron fiddled nervously with his wedding ring, twiddling it around his finger as he talked.

“I know and you did almost die.” She quickly wiped away the stray tear that threatened to run down her cheek with the sleeve of her hoodie.

Aaron could feel himself tearing up now too, but he had to try and stay strong for Liv’s sake. “Oh Liv, is that what this is all about? You know that if anything ever happened to me you’d have the whole Dingle clan around to look after you. They never abandon one of their own, and you may not be a Dingle in name but you’re definitely one in nature. You’re never going to have to worry about being alone again Liv. You don’t need a piece of paper to prove that.”

“It’s not about that, Aaron. Yes, you almost dying was what made me thing about it in the first place but it’s more than that. You and Robert are the closest things I’m ever going to have to a dad now and I want to make that official. I want to be a proper family. So please, can I ask him? I really have thought about this, a lot.”

Aaron leaned back against the wall of the cabin, closing his eyes for a moment as he considered the request. He took a long, steadying breath giving him time to form a response. “Look Liv, it’s up to you okay. If you want to ask him then I’m not going to stop you. Just, don’t get your hopes up okay. It’s a big thing to ask someone, and Robert is well; Robert. So you might not get the answer you’re hoping for.”

Liv rushed forward, flinging her arms around her brother, a smile breaking through the tears. “Thanks Aaron.”

 

Liv found Robert in the back room of the pub, typing furiously on his laptop, eyebrows furrowed in concentration. He didn’t look up or even acknowledge her presence until she plonked herself down into the chair opposite him at the dining room table.

“All right?” He gave her a brief glance, not bothering to wait for a response before turning his attention back to his work.

“Yeah.” Liv replied, although she was pretty sure that could not have been further from the truth right now. She had been rehearsing what she would say to him in her head for days now, she knew it word for word but now that she was sat here her mind was a complete blank. Instead she found herself simply sitting, staring at a small stain in the middle of the table.

It was Robert that finally broke the silence, unable to concentrate on his emails with Liv sat awkwardly opposite him. “Do you want something?” He was unable to keep the annoyance out of his voice. He really needed to get this work done, and had come to the pub instead of working out at the scrapyard in an attempt to get some peace and quiet.

Liv jumped slightly at the break in the silence. “Um yeah.”

Seeing that Liv was not going to offer any further explanation for her presence Robert asked, “What have you done now?” He leant back on his chair, folding his arms, attempting to look somewhat stern.

Liv frowned, “Why does everyone always think I’ve done something wrong?”

Robert’s lips quirked up in a half smile, “Because you usually have.”

“I want to ask you something, okay?” She didn’t know why she was getting angry; couldn’t decide whether it was at herself for not just coming out and saying it, or at Robert for that stupid smirk he was currently giving her.

Uncrossing his arms, Robert leant forward, placing his elbows on the table. “Okay.” He could tell that whatever she was here for was clearly something big and the least he could do was be somewhat supportive. “Go ahead, I’m listening.”

“Well, now that we’re going to be moving out and living together. I want us to be a proper family, so I want to ask you if you’ll be my guardian as well as Aaron.” Liv felt her cheeks flush as Robert’s eyes seemed to bore into her. The intensity of his gaze made her uncomfortable, and she had to look away, the stain on the table suddenly becoming fascinating again.

“What? Why?” The words were out of his mouth before he could even think about what he was saying. The question had been so unexpected that it had caught him completely off-guard.

Liv’s head jerked up at that, tears brimming on the edge of her eyelids, threatening to spill over. He watched and he could almost see the thoughts whirling around in her head. Before he had a chance to say anything else she was rising from the chair, hastily shoving it back with such force that it tipped over. “I should have listened to Aaron, he said you wouldn’t want too. Just, don’t bother.”

Robert felt her words like a slap in the face leaving him momentarily stunned. By the time he came back to himself he realised that Liv was already half way across the room.

“Liv wait…” Robert was on his feet, running across the room in an attempt to catch up with her when Aaron came in from the bar, almost knocking him over in his haste.

“Robert what…” Aaron caught site of the panicked look in Robert’s eyes as he tried to ignore Aaron, instead pushing at him to get out of the way so that he could try and catch up with Liv.

“Not now Aaron, I need to find Liv.”

Aaron grabbed hold of his arm, forcing him to stop. “Did she ask you?”

Robert glanced down at the floor, he just couldn’t look Aaron in the eye right now. It was bad enough that he had completely messed up with Liv, but knowing that Aaron had thought he would say no was just too much for him.

“Yeah.”

“Stay here. I’ll go after her.” Aaron was already halfway out the door before Robert had a chance to respond.

He thought about going after him but was prevented from doing so by Chas entering the back room with a face like thunder.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Chas stood blocking the doorway, hands on hips.

“To find Liv and Aaron.” He said it like it was the most natural thing in the world, of course he was going to follow them, he needed to explain. Robert was growing more and more frustrated as she continued to stand immobile.

“I don’t think so. I didn’t see Liv, but Aaron had a real face on, and he asked me to make sure you didn’t follow him. Said you’d done enough damage already, and that following him would only make it worse.” Chas moved further into the backroom, closing the door behind her as though to say that her word was final. If Aaron didn’t want to followed, then she was going to do everything she could to make sure he wasn’t followed.

“Chas please, I need to explain to Liv.” Robert didn’t care that he was pleading, he just needed to fix this.

“Explain what?” Chas questioned.

Robert looked her straight in the eyes, and said “Why I’m an idiot”.

Despite the seriousness of the situation Chas couldn’t contain the laugh that bubbled up at those words. “Ha, is that even possible?”

“Yeah thanks, I probably deserve that. But seriously, I’ve really upset Liv and I’m not sure how I’m going to fix this.”

Chas sighed, before moving past him to enter the room properly. She made her way over the sofa before indicating the seat beside her. “Sit” Her tone implied that there would be no arguing with her. But then Robert had plenty of experience when it came to Chas and her protective mother role.

He debated just making a run for it as he was now closer to the door than Chas but he knew that she would most likely just chase him down the street and tackle him to the ground if she thought it necessary. Thinking better of it, he decided that the only thing he really could do was take a seat next to her.

“Talk.” She commanded before he even had the chance to sit down properly.

“What am I a dog now?” He bit back in response. Seeing the glare that she was levelling at him, he cursed himself inwardly. Why couldn’t he just think a bit more before he spoke? If he had done that earlier he wouldn’t be in this mess right now.

Sighing, Robert glanced down at his hands, catching sight of the ring that nestled safely on his finger. “Liv asked me to be her guardian along with Aaron.”

Chas waited for him to continue, but as there was going to be no further explanation forth coming, she asked, “And you said no?”

Robert winced, he couldn’t get Liv’s face out of his mind. “Not exactly. I asked her why?”

“Seriously.” Chas looked at him like he’d just grown three heads. “She asked you to be her guardian and you go with why?”

“Well, why would she want me to be her guardian when she has Aaron? I know that we’re going to be moving out soon, and we’re going to be living together, but I just don’t understand why would she want me? I’m not exactly a role model, am I? I can barely keep myself together at the best of times, why would she think I would be able to offer her anything?”

Chas rolled her eyes. “You know I’ve not been your biggest fan.” She paused at Robert’s little huff. “Let me finish, will yah. I’ve not been your biggest fan, but the last six months I have seen a completely different side to you. You’re actually a pretty decent human being when you’re not trying to be someone that you’re not.”

Robert frowned at that comment, “I don’t…”

“Seriously, will you just shut your mouth and listen for once. Why wouldn’t you be a role model? You’re the perfect example of what you can do when you just accept yourself and stop trying to be everything that you think other people want you to be. You used to be such an arrogant little shit and if this was a year ago, I wouldn’t have let you anywhere near Liv. But you’re not the same person you were then. You’ve been a rock for Aaron this past year and I’m honestly not sure he would have made it through without you.”

Robert couldn’t help but smile slightly at that last comment. He knew that he and Chas had come a long way from where they had started off, but to know that she felt this strongly filled him with a sense of pride.

“Liv would be lucky to have you as a guardian. I’ve seen how you are with her, in fact, and don’t you dare tell Aaron this, I think sometimes you’re better with her than he is. He’s too soft on her. Anyway, if anything happened to Aaron I couldn’t think of anyone better to look after Liv, and clearly she thinks the same.”

Robert scoffed, “Well Liv may think so but Aaron doesn’t.”

“What?” Chas knew that Aaron could be protective of his little sister, especially after everything that they had been through this past year, but she couldn’t believe that Aaron would outright say that he didn’t want Robert to be Liv’s guardian.

“Liv, before she ran off, after I… well she said that she should have listened to Aaron and that he knew I wouldn’t want to.”

Chas rolled her eyes, “well that’s hardly saying that he didn’t want her to ask you is it. Anyway, if you really are going to be Liv’s guardian you’re going to have to learn that the words of a teenage girl thrown at you in anger hold very little weight.”.

Robert couldn’t help but laugh at that. It was true, if living with Liv for the last six months had taught him anything it was that teenage girls can be very over-dramatic.

Chas nudged him with her elbow, “I think I’ve stalled you long enough. They’ve gone to the cricket pavilion. Go on, go and sort this mess out will yah.”

 

 

As Robert rounded the corner of the cricket pavilion, he saw Liv and Aaron in a tight embrace. Liv was obviously still visibly upset and Aaron was doing his best to comfort her. He felt like such an idiot and he really needed to put this right.

Robert cleared his throat to warn them of his presence, and Liv and Aaron jumped apart. Liv hastily wiping her eyes with the sleeve of her jumper, whilst Aaron took on his protective stance by her side.

“What do you want?” It was Liv that spoke first. She tried to sound angry, but her words wobbled with emotion.

Robert held up his hands placatingly, taking a step further forward. “I want a chance to talk, a chance to explain, and maybe if it’s not too much to ask, a chance to put things right.”

Aaron turned to Liv, waiting to see what her reaction was going to be. When there was none forthcoming he replied, “he does deserve a chance to explain Liv.”

Liv pouted, before sinking down onto the steps at the front of the pavilion, “fine, I suppose.”

Robert made his way over to them and sat down next to her. He did his best not to look at Aaron. He hated feeling like he’d let him down, and making his little sister this upset invoked those feelings. He could feel Aaron’s gaze burning into his head but he did his best to ignore it as he turned to Liv.

“I’m sorry.” He took a steadying breath. “I mean, really sorry. You know me well enough by now to know that sometimes, well no, most of the time, my mouth moves before my brain has a chance to catch up.”

“Look, you don’t have to explain. If you don’t want to be my guardian it’s fine, I get it. I’m just part of the package if you want to be with Aaron.” Liv wiped at her nose with her sleeve, the tears continuing to stream down her already reddened face.

Robert leant forward and gently took hold of her chin, before pulling her face up to meet his. “Don’t ever think that I’m just putting up with you because I’m with Aaron; that is the last thing I ever want you to feel. Believe me, I’ve felt like I was second best to someone my whole life and I never want that for you. I’ll admit, when you first came into my life I was less than ecstatic about it. I mean let’s face it, you can be a little shit but then you’re Aaron’s sister so I can’t really expect anything else.” Liv huffed a little laugh at that, sparing a glance at her big brother who was still stood looming over them, as though he were ready to pounce on Robert should be do anything more to upset his little sister.

But even Aaron cracked a smile at that, knowing that there was no arguing with Robert’s logic there.

“Anyway,” Robert continued, “When you asked me, it took me by surprise. I couldn’t understand why you would want to choose me; I’m not sure I understand fully now.”

“I wouldn’t have asked yah if I didn’t want yah, would I? Why wouldn’t I choose you? You’ve been more of a dad to me in the last six months then my real dad ever was. Don’t get me wrong, I hate you at times, but then I feel the same way about Aaron so…” Liv trailed off.

It was Robert’s turn to fight back the tears now. He had never felt so loved and accepted. “Well, if you’re still asking then I would love to be your guardian. I mean, if that’s all right with you?” He glanced up at Aaron then, and couldn’t help but notice the tears welling up in his fiancés eyes.

Aaron knelt beside them before answering. “You’re an idiot.”

Robert nodded, “So I’ve been told.” He turned back to Liv. “Well, what do you say? Want to make this a proper family?”

Liv smiled, “yeah okay.” Putting her arms out she gestured for both Aaron and Robert to come closer, pulling them both into a tight embrace. “Thanks.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for taking the time to read this, I hope you enjoyed it. 
> 
> Join me on tumblr @beyondthebridge


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